“Okay - what else? This is pretty stretched.” Captain Ko asked.

“I agree. The information we gathered and the leads we’re pursuing were not definitive by any measure. ” Tyler Khan raised the folder in his hand: “But - if you asked any of us investigators, this does not sound right at all. For one, we still don’t know who paid him off, and the other thing, his position is a pretty comfortable one. As long as he doesn’t screw up - by screw up I mean commit gross negligence or take too big a bribe, he would not have too much to worry about in his life. He’s single, he has a collective-assigned apartment. And he did not have any expensive hobbies or habits.”

“So, you’re saying whoever paid him off, is either very wealthy or very powerful?” Marcus nodded.

“Or both. We believe it to be indeed both. The reason is simple - they hid their tracks very well. That company they rented the platform under, it’s a shell company with ties to some out the city conglomerate. So - ”

“So - what makes you think that this Luo Zhuge guy is still in the city?” Captain Ko sighed and asked: “How do you know if this is only one person? And not a group of people operating under that name? And why is it that this ‘Luo Zhuge’ operates only in the South-Western District, if it is to be some powerful, rich, malicious guy?”

“All very insightful, keen questions.” Tyler Khan did not show any signs of anger or frustration when questioned, and instead he still kept his smile and his calm demeanor: “To be fair. We don’t have a good idea on whether he is a singular person or a group. But we can absolutely be sure that they are still in the city. Because we looked at some of our records and we went through the exit records from the last two years. There was no one that had ties to said conglomerate.”

“... ha, so you basically don’t have anything and are counting on us.” Captain Ko shook his head: “I - I don’t know, Mr. Khan. We will need to get more information from the community collective before we can reasonably make any good progress.”

“That is understandable. Please let me know what other information you need. I’ll draw note everything down and let the collective know, then I’ll retrieve as much information as possible and share with everyone here.” Tyler Khan smiled while glancing around the room, fixing his eyes on Marcus for a short moment: “Any - any questions?”

“Do you know any other aliases this Luo Zhuge might be using?” Shrevas narrowed his eyes with his right hand half raised:“ I mean. Zhuge is not exactly a very common surname, so the person or the group could be switching to different aliases. ”

“We are looking into that direction as well. I can check with my colleagues. But as far as I know this is the only definitive alias. ” Tyler Khan shrugged: “And if we work together to look into his traces in the South-Western District and even the Northern District, we could definitely find out more.”

The briefing finished earlier than usual, and Captain Ko called Tyler Khan into his office. And just when Marcus was ready to get back to his desk, Shrevas and Keryn came to him and Kevin: “Hey, can we have a quick chat?”

“What’s wrong? What’s happening?” Mick snuck to Marcus’ side.

“I - we have something we’d like to tell you.” Keryn and Pahaik exchanged looks, then answered in a low voice.

“My lab, then?” Kevin pointed at his lab with the doors shut.

Three detectives and Mick followed Kevin into the lab. The space became a bit crowded with five people in it and there was practically no place to sit.

“Okay, since we’re so secretive and all, should I kick off my bug scanners first?” Kevin chuckled.

“Yeah, yeah you might as well.” Keryn chuckled.

Kevin shrugged, then reached his hand into a small compartment in one of his drawers and pushed a tiny button hidden in the corner. After some light buzzing sounds, he nodded at everyone: “Okay, we’re good now. The room’s clean. Or at least, as clean as it can be.”

“That’s fine. If anyone’s able to listen even against the general scanners, then they’ll learn about what we’ll do next anyway.” Marcus shrugged and sighed.

“Okay, then here goes.” Shrevas leaned his behind on the edge of a table: “You guys, be discreet. Don’t blabber just yet.”

Almost everyone in the room, aside from Mick, subconsciously turned their eyes on Mick. Mick sensed this as well, then he immediately shook his head and hands: “I - I can get outta here if you’d like, I mean - I understand, I’m new here and I’ve barely earned - ”

“It’s okay. We’ll need your help on this, more than you know.” Keryn nodded and pulled him back: “Where’s Sai?”

“He’s - gone to the city now. I’m actually waiting for him. I can relay to him.” Mick let out a long exhale.

“Okay. Okay.” Shrevas nodded.

“What is it? What is it?” Kevin drummed the surface of his desk: “The suspense is killing us over here.”

“We may know who Luo Zhuge is.” Keryn’s voice was cold and low, but it exploded like a bomb in this tiny lab.

“What the fuck? How’d you know?” Kevin’s voice almost broke.

“Because we found the name, almost purely by chance when we were looking at the reparations team case files and following up on record checks. We didn’t think too much of it, because it was obviously an alias.” Shrevas cleared his throat: “It’s not frequently used, at least according to our records. Just some credit cards, and all paid off on time regularly.”

“It’s very likely, though we could still be wrong, but - ” Keryn sighed: “But, it might be an alias of John Mitchell.”

The lab went quiet, just like a small town suffering from nuclear fallout.